International marketing, strategic orientations and business success Reflections on the path ahead

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to highlight key themes and issues within the strategic orientation research domain that are in need of research attention by international scholars. Design/methodology/approach - The approach taken is an essay format. Findings - The essay identifies six prime issues in need of attention by scholars interested in examining strategic orientations in the context of international business success. These are the need to: examine the relative merits of adopting strategic orientations in firms' domestic and international business operations; more carefully match international performance metrics to the theory being developed; develop more theory-rich conceptual models of the consequences of strategic orientations by considering non-linear and complex moderated relationships; consider the dimensionality of strategic orientations more closely, potentially viewing the constructs in a variety of disaggregated ways, so as to develop models with greater conceptual precision and managerial relevance; go beyond current methodological boundaries to provide better/more robust tests of theories; and integrate theories regarding individual strategic orientations into meta-theories that accommodate multiple strategic orientations. Research limitations/implications - For each of the six prime research issues identified as being important within the international strategic orientations field, a variety of specific research avenues and research questions are raised and discussed. Originality/value - The paper provides researchers with insights into potential avenues for conducting research into strategic orientations in the international marketing arena.